Soldiers from Ecuador and Colombia propose security actions on the border

Ipiales, COLOMBIA

In the midst of strict security measures, the meeting of military commanders from Ecuador and Colombia was held in Ipiales, a border city of the neighboring country located in front of Tulcán. The appointment took place within the framework of the Border Protection Plan.

At the Cabal Cavalry Group military fort, Nelson Proaño, head of the Joint Command of the Armed Forces (Comaco) of Ecuador and Helder Fernán Giraldo Bonilla, commander of his counterpart in Colombia, with their work and intelligence teams from both countries, exchanged information on border security issues.

According to the authorities, combined operations are coordinated to achieve effective control of areas considered high risk on the common border, to neutralize clashes between irregular armed groups dedicated to the trafficking and custody of substances subject to control, acts of violence and criminality.

Military commanders from Ecuador and Colombia will meet to define parameters of the Border Protection Plan

General Giraldo stressed that the two countries are joining military efforts “against the different international threats that commit crimes on our borders, which are harming the civilian population and contaminating rivers, fauna and flora.”

The purpose is to establish medium- and short-term plans to deal with these problems and that allow the leaders of criminal organizations to be brought to justice, the commander added.

He indicated that strict controls will be exercised along the 586-kilometer border in the departments of Nariño and Putumayo, in Colombia, as well as in the Ecuadorian provinces of Carchi, Sucumbíos, and Esmeraldas.

For his part, Nelson Proaño added that during the meeting strategies were outlined to combat the threats that interrupt the normal life of society. The action plans are in the process of being prepared and the support of state institutions will be sought to achieve the proposed objectives, he specified.

At the end of the bilateral meeting, the high military commanders signed a document with the agreed commitments for the tactical and operational implementation of the Border Protection Plan, reported the Ministry of Defense.

The strategies were arranged by the presidents of Ecuador and Colombia, Guillermo Lasso and Gustavo Petro, respectively.

Ecuador and Colombia advance in an agreement to strengthen border control with a plan that would be ready at the beginning of 2023

This plan will be executed at the beginning of 2023, in an agreement between the two nations, in compliance with the constitutional mission, to defend the sovereignty and territorial integrity, as well as the protection of the rights, freedoms and guarantees of citizens.

One of Ecuador’s concerns is the control and military and police presence in Colombian towns, opposite Esmeraldas, Carchi and Sucumbíos, where coca crops are evident and there is a certain predominance of armed groups and dissidents of the Revolutionary Armed Forces. of Colombia (FARC) (YO)